Population Studies and Training Center

Migration Studies Certificate

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Migration Studies Certificate

The Certificate in Migration Studies, offered by the Population Studies and Training Center (PSTC) in partnership with the Department of Sociology, promotes a multidisciplinary understanding of migration and competency in a range of research methodologies.

Migration is at the core of human history. People have always moved in search of opportunities, and to escape hardship and threats to well-being. In the modern era migration at the national and international levels changes the demographic and ethnic compositions of cities and nations, and challenges and transforms national identities and political cultures.

The Certificate links students to diverse learning resources spread across departments and centers at Brown University, and by building community among students and faculty with shared interest in migration, immigration, and the immigrant experience.

Eligibility

As with all undergraduate undergraduate certificates, students may only have one declared concentration and must be enrolled in or have completed at least two courses toward the certificate at the time they declare in ASK, which must be no later than the last day of classes of the antepenultimate (typically the sixth) semester.

Requirements

The program places particular emphasis on research methods, research experience, and rigorous approaches to the study of migration. The required introductory course covers the central features, concepts and foci of international migrations studies, and the two elective courses selected from the lists of preapproved courses expose students to diverse substantive concerns and disciplinary approaches. A required methods course from a list of preapproved courses exposes students to methods beyond their concentration requirements. Finally, students complete a thesis, project or an experiential learning requirement.

Students who undertake a senior project or thesis for their declared concentration are required to have a migration related topic as the central focus of the project or thesis. Proposals for projects/theses need program approval for migration content. As an alternative to a project or thesis, students may participate in a faculty research project with a focus on migration, or complete an internship or volunteer with a community organization that primarily services immigrant communities. 

  • SOC 0315 International Migration

Choose two from the list of pre-approved courses.

  • AFRI 1441 Caribbean and Latin American Migration: Race, Gender, Community (Spring 2026)

  • AFRI 2001a Race and Migration in the diaspora - Latin America and Caribbean (Spring 2026)

  • AMST 0090A 7 Hours and 55 Minutes: Sex, Work, and Migration in Global Contexts (Fall 2025)

  • ANTH 0315 International Migration (Fall 2023)

  • ANTH 1225 Gendering Migration and Diasporas (Fall 2026)

  • ARCH 2232 Moving in the Mediterranean: Mobility in Archaeology, Sci & Text (Fall 2025)

  • COLT 0711U Home and Away: South Asian Literature in the Global Diaspora (Fall 2025)

  • COLT 1812A Literatures of Immigration (Spring 2024)

  • EDUC 0405 New Faces, New Challenges: Immigrant Students in U.S. Schools (Spring 2024)

  • ENGL 1181B Memoirs of Migration (Spring 2025)

  • ETHN 1750A Immigrant Social Movements: Bridging Theory and Practice (Spring 2026)

  • FREN 1410T L’experience des refugies: deplacements, migrations (Fall 2025)

  • HIST 0577B The US-Mexico Border and Borderlands (Fall 2023)

  • HIST 2971P Diaspora, Displacement, Transnationalism (Fall 2022)

  • HMAN 1976G Politics of Migration (Spring 2024)

  • IAPA 1700P Displaced: How Global Systems Shape Refugee Families (Fall 2023)

  • IAPA 1702D Beyond Refugeehood: Politics of Mobility, Border Regimes, and 

  • Humanitarianism (Spring 2024)

  • JUDS 0609 American Jewish History from the Great Migration to the Contemporary 

  • Resurgence of Antisemitism (Spring 2026)

  • MGRK 1210 A Migration Crisis? Displacement, Materiality, and Experience (Fall 2024)

  • POBS 0810 Belonging and Displacement: Cross-Cultural Identities (Fall 2024)

  • POLS 1822Q Identity Politics in Global Perspective (Fall 2024)

  • POLS 1824S The Politics of Migration (Spring 2025)

  • POLS 1825R Environment, Migration, and Conflict in Contemporary European Politics (Spring 2024)

  • SOC 1128 Migrants, Refugees and the Mediterranean (Fall 2022)

  • SOC 1130 Race, Migration and the American Color Line (Spring 2026)

  • SOC 1155 Borderlands (Spring 2024)

  • SOC 1281 Migration in the Americas (Spring 2026)

  • SOC 1450 Unstable Times: Migration, Identity and Societal Integration (Fall 2024)

  • SOC 2320 Migration (Spring 2023)

View a Google Doc of the List

Choose one from the list of pre-approved courses.

The elective methods course cannot be a required course in a student’s declared concentration. Information about opportunities for undergraduates to enroll in non-credit mini-methods courses offered at the PSTC will be available shortly.

  • ANTH 1201 Intro to Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Analysis (Spring 2026)

  • ANTH 1327 Ethnography in Organizations (Fall 2025)

  • ANTH 1940 Ethnographic Research Methods (Spring 2026)

  • APMA 1650 Statistical Inference I (Fall 2025, Spring 2026)

  • APMA 1660  Statistical Inference II (Spring 2026)

  • ECON 1000 Using Big Data to Solve Economic and Social Problems (Fall 2023)

  • ECON 1620 Introduction to Econometrics (Fall 2025, Spring 2026)

  • ECON 1629 Applied Research Methods for Economists (Fall 2025, Spring 2026)

  • ECON 1660 Big Data (Fall 2022)

  • ECON 1680 Machine Learning, Text Analysis, and Economics (Spring 2024)

  • EDUC 1230 Applied Statistics for ED Research and Policy Analysis (Spring 2025)

  • EDUC 1240 Using Qualitative Research Methods (Spring 2026)

  • POLS 1600 Political Research Methods (Spring 2026)

  • PHP 1501 Essentials of Data Analysis (Fall 2025)

  • PHP 1510 Principles of Biostatistics (Fall 2025)

  • PHP 1560 Statistical Programming in R (Fall 2025)

  • PHP 1511 Applied Regression Analysis (Spring 2023)

  • SOC 1020 Methods of Social Research (Spring 2026)

  • SOC 1100 Introductory Statistics (Fall 2025, Spring 2026)

  • SOC 1117 Focus Groups for Market and Social Research (Fall 2024)

  • SOC 1118 Context Research for Innovation (Fall 2024)

  • SOC 1120 Market and Social Surveys (Spring 2025)

  • SOC 1260 Market Research in Public and Private Sectors (Spring 2026)

  • SOC 1340 Principles and Methods of Geographic Information Systems (Fall 2024)

View a Google Doc of the list

Students must complete a senior project or thesis as part of their concentration with a migration related topic as the central focus, or they may participate in a faculty migration related research project, or complete an internship or volunteer with a community organization that primarily services immigrant communities. Course credit for a senior project or thesis should be arranged through the student’s declared concentration. Proposals for projects/theses need program approval for migration content at the time that proposals are due to the student’s concentration. Participation in a faculty research project, internships or volunteer work can be completed at any time between the end of the fourth semester and graduation, but needs program approval before it can count towards the certificate requirement. Course credit is not awarded for internships or volunteer work.

Questions

Please direct any further questions to program director, Prof. David Lindstrom.